Pictory

Film of historical interest

But that is all! The time of monarchy passed, IRI will pass too. Lets look to the future and not argue about the past. People have different opinions of what happened but it does not serve any purpose to argue every day about the past. 

No one forced you to follow him ... You did it to yourselves

And you got what you deserved ! 

shah as a historical loser; monarchists = losers par exellence

Even after 33 years monarchists have not accumulated enough intelligence, or the courage to admit how they destroyed the country and handed Iran over to mullahs.

Heck of a job.

Socialist Mitterand's Extravaganza 1982 Versailles G 7 Summit

No ordinary French citizen was invited to the Chateau for the entire event marked by lavish dinners and Fireworks and Concerts for the heads of States: 

Sommet de Versailles

Sommet Versailles

The First ladies, Nancy and Danielle Mitterand got special treats and all sorts of private receptions to which nobody was invited.

By the way Iran's first President of the Republic Abol Hassan Banisadre lives next door ... He was recently visited by burglers ... ;0)

I think

These folks definitley should have been invited!

//news.yahoo.com/iranians-mark-anniversary-us...

Mehrban

I really appreciate your comments here, you speak a lot of sense.

2500 years Celebration of Pride and Power

The celebration familiarized the whole world to our rich culture and our rich history. Iranians and their rich history of "Padeshahi" were well represented by our "crown father" shah han shah.  Thanks our shah han shah, a Great man in our modern history. Our Shahanshah brought dignity, pride for us around the world. God bless his soul. R.I.P.

Siavash

Mehraban

So I am guessing you get invitation to every presedential or royal events every where? in what country does every one get invited to every party?  who can you include or exclude? how many people could you have invited to that gathering excluding the guests?

you can argue about it this and that  but fact of the matter is the only celerbation honoring Iran for the past thousends of years. if there were other celeberations or if there are others comming in not too distant future by all means let me know.

LOL Mehrban you just elevated your views

You went from in my view giving us jealousy based views, which I feel were and are still totally unreasonable to  expressing views based on Blame which are no less disingenuous in my view.  Quote "Whatever the English royals do and have done has served them well so far in keeping them in position" and therefore the responsibility in your view now rests entirely with our Royals.  LOL. 

What if being closer to the truth is that the Kings/Queens and Culture of Iran is based more on Lawfulness for ALL, than the machiavellian model currently used by the west and infact the Iranian model is a more succeesful and humane approach more compatible with democracy than the one in practice by the USA.  Don't confuse a situation where iranian people are due to a lack of wisdom deceived and thwarted, instead of being able to make an honest choice without manipulation, coercion and deceit. Being understanding regarding what the west is really doing versus what they are saying they are doing is essential????  And Irans approach pre 1979 has a 2500 year history that can be clearly examined. 

Mehrban, as you imply, It must be true that all of the people of Iran were perfect and in every way and they made absolutely no mistakes, if only the one person responsible for making every single mistake in Iran would only stop making mistakes 1979 would have never happened.  If only his imperfect team were better the perfect people who lived in Iran would have been incapable of making a mistake.  Its all their fault as we are such a wise and great society.   

On "He failed the rest is sour grapes".  Aesops Fable on sour grapes is appropriate no?  The fox that could not reach the sweet grapes that were hanging before him would criticise the grapes and say they must be sour and thus reduce his motivation for wanting them, trying harder and more honestly.  Be careful what you criticise and call sour grapes, because you may end up with out the sweet grapes, is the moral behind his story.  Is it too much to contemplate, for you that the british people are a successful family due to honest effort and constructive thoughts? Not that it is their human and imperfect Royal Family?  Such a pity, so far to still go for a nation if we can not see and think constructively.  It is in my view the Iranians that tell us the Pahlavi's were sour grapes who failed us in 1979 and are still failing All Iranians today. 

The Mullahs, The MeK, The Communists, mossadeghollahis and a few other antimonarchists truly did fail Iranians in my view.  You know what Mehrban, the younger generation many of them see this and are wiser than their parents generation because they have had to literally eat the Sh@t that was caused by groups within a Nation being so weak and backwards in terms of thinking, that they ignorantly criticized the sweet grapes 'the pahlavi's" Iranians enjoyed and benefitted from and were used by others to thwart Iran and sabotaged their own Iranian culture, success and progress.  And these views in my mind are the reason why for me others are irrelevant and this is being shared and felt under tyranny among the majority in Iran.

No they weren't Banned Mehrban jan ... that's not true

To begin with the ceremonies were not limited to the Parade and Tent you see in this footage which were beamed live on TV for everyone to follow. They may have been the highlights of these ceremonies but they were not limited to them.  

The celebrations were actually marked by all sorts of ceremonies which took place across the country in schools, social and cultural events including in my school in Shiraz where we dressed up like the soldiers from the various dynasties and everyone had a very good time.

There were two major highlights one at Pasargardae where only Iranian officials attended ( as well as a limited lucky few through thanks to "goreh keshi") and another one at Persepolis where the given the number of heads of State invited it was impossible to have a spontaneous crowd present due to Security reasons.

As opposed to the Coronation where the Shah and Shahbanou were cheered in the streets and the Royal Carriage went to greet the people that was simply impossible in the case of the Parade in Persepolis.

Other than the two above events dozens of commemerations took place during the entire year leading to the events and across the country including two long weeks prior and after the celebrations which ended with the Final Fireworks and Parade at Amjadieh Stadium constructed for the occasion. Dozens of Libraries and historical documentation centers were built across the country regrouping the works of international scholars to give seminaries in the Universities with free access to students and anyone interested.

Jashneh Honar of Shiraz which showcased the best of Iranian Art, Theater and Music other cultural events was an offspring of these celebrations.

Even the actor of that "FETCHEZ LA VACHE" Movie you admire so much praised the Shah's culture Minister and brother in law for his endeavors: 

Ezatollah Entezami Bold Tribute To Shah’s Brother In Law Mehrdad Pahlbod on IRI TV

The Same Namak Nashnas Shajarian who went on to sing his revolutionary songs owes his fame to the Shiraz Festival and cultural ambition:

Shajarian Lotfi in Shiraz Art Festival, 1975, Full program

Mardikeyeh Pofuse Khejalat ham nameekesheh keh tah beh emrooz beh Shah fosh meedeh ?   

Today countries like Morocco and Dubai Film Festivals have merely copied what we started in the field and now are  drawing foreign artists and investments with such extravaganzas which make those of the Pahlavi Era come across as innocent experimentations.

SHIRAZ INTL ARTS FESTIVAL '69: Documentary "Sound the Trumpets Beat the Drums" (1969)

Iranian TV had acquired all the rights for transmissions and the Foreign crews present had to rely on Iranian TV which transferred them the Footage.

The French Press was actually pissed off cause they wanted to have the exclusivity of the transmissions given that France had convinced Iran to adopt the SECAM System as opposed to PAL:

pictory: French "Grand Reporter" Léon Zitrone Narrates Persepolis Celebrations (1971)

The head of the Iranian National Television said No.

Léon Zitrone in the above link whom I met personally then went and arrogantly spoke badly about the ceremonies complaining all the time. In his memoires he said he was actually kicked out of the tent by the security and was set free only because the Empress finally had to interfere to calm the zeal of the Persian Security.  The fact of the matter was different, Zitrone for a well known TV personality ( well known only in France but he thought everyone knew him worldwide) had a Huge Ego. Having met him I can vouch for that. It just happens that he had lost his badge and being Fat and clumsy was looking for it everywhere in the Tent. When a Police guard came and asked him for his credentials he made a huge scandal," how dare you ask me ... do you know who I am ?" and stuff like that.  He had behaved so arrogantly that the Security guard who didn't speak french just kicked him out of the tent and that led this fellow to bad mouth the ceremony subsequently. 

For your info in even a Perfectly democratic society like the UK the police conducted many arrests prior to the Wedding of William and Kate :

BBC News - Royal wedding: Police arrest 55 around security zone

As well as for the Queen's Jubilee:

But No one finds that Scandelous or unsusual ?

If it's the Queen of England ... They are deemed so civilized and democratic aren't they ? ... No one complains about their extravagant lifestyle or Rich Palaces ? Everyone want to be William and Kate But if it's an Oriental Monarch sitting on the Throne of Jamshid he is automatically a despot and corrupt ? 

Iran had never organized such a huge event and they could not afford screwing it up. The skills they acquired on the Persepolis Celebrations helped them put up the Asian Games of 1974 where everyone participated with great joy and nobody was claiming at the Time that the Shah was doing this for his own glory. Apart from a bunch of frustrated Left Wing Poets and intellectuals most Iranians were proud of these ceremonies. If it weren't for the Gossip magazines which the Iranians travelling abroad often took for serious magazines and brought them back to the country claiming that the Shah was corrupt for the most people just took the ceremony for what it was : a Major event celebrating the glories of the past and showcasing Iran's World Status after years of being considered as an "Arab" State.

Persepolis put Iran on the Map reminding us of our roots:

Zubin Mehta Fondly Recalls Shah of Iran's Invitation to India's Parsi Community

and if it weren't for all those Leftist groupes and cofederation student across Europe and in the US who regularly badmouthed the Pahlavis in the foreign press with lies and deceit these ceremonies were generally positively recieved by Magazines like Paris Match or Life as a glittering event amidst all the dreadful news coming out of Vietnam.   

M.A.S.H. : Iranian Nurses Provide Help to Injured Vietnamese (1966)

For a change this was a peaceful celebration gathering heads of States worldwide in a bid to promote World Peace and a Dialogue of Civilizations:

Daryush Shayegan Global Dialogue Prize Winner

MYSTIC RED: Shahbanou Farah & Controversial French philosopher Roger Garaudy (1977) 

An idea that this hypocrit Khatami and his likeminds Shirin Ebadi and Co simply picked up from the Shahbanou team years later in order to repackage their reformist movement to appeal to the Western Lobbyists and seduce Western academic circles to their cause:

It's only after the Revolution that everyone complained about the Persepolis Celebrations picking up on the revolutionary slogans and fervor fed to them by the folks running our country today or the Mujahedin Khalg their former allies but at the time everyone found it normal and was excited to see Iran stand tall and proud in the concert of nations and represented by such a beautiful royal couple ...

Khob Eenam Jomhurytoon keh chegardre beh Meeraseh Farhagy va Tamadon Iranzamin Ehteram ghaeleh keh hameh cheezoh beh Haraj Meefroosheh :

NAME YOUR PRICE: Islamic Republic Auctions Items of Royal Treasury and Valuables (1983) 

Meegam as Saul Bellow Said:

"A Country that Loses it's Poetic Vision is a Country that faces death"-Saul Bellow.

Khob Aghebat ham Mordeem :

Fardin’s Last Public Appearance: Mah Dareem Har Rooz Meemeereem ! 

Amirparviz you and I can argue until we are each blue in the

face.  But the fact is that the proof is in the pudding.  Whatever the English royals do and have done has served them well so far in keeping them in position.  Also whatever the office of the President of the United States has done has stood them in good stead for over 200 years.  Andrew Jackson and B.Clinton were impeached by the house of rep. later aquited by the Senate and Nixon resigned, they did things that offended their public, maybe in France nobody would care about an extra marital sextual relationship, in the US in the case of Clinton they did.

The fact of the matter is that at the revolution of 1979 the Shah of Iran had managed to alienate the majority of his people (it seems).   The fact that the monarchists resist to accept is that the king was the king of Iran for good or bad.  His job as the heir to the 2500 years tradition of monarchy in his country was to understand his people and keep them as supporters.  He failed the rest is sour grapes.

Tolstoy says all happy families are alike but each unhappy family has its own story.   

I do appreciate your inexhaustable efforts in talking logically through your points here and elsewhere.   

shah's gargantuan,ridiculous view of himself was his worst enemy

Back in early 70's while there were slums and shanty towns growing up around Tehran and every other major city in Iran, while we had the greatest migration of landless farmers from country side to the cities, while shah still had a chance to address this most significant issue of development for Iranian society, instead he chose to ignore the hard realities of our country, and "think" of himself as the king of kings.

Gargantuan doesn't even begin to describe his bloated, distorted view of himself.

If only a fraction of all those monies that were spent on those most ridiculous "celebrations" were spend to alleviate the problem of migration from the countryside to the urban centers, monarchy probably would not have had the uprising and insurrection of slums and shanty towns six short years after these most stupid "2500" so called celebrations.

But that was not to be the case.

Only six years after this extravagant waste of national treasures, we witnessed the uprising of slums in Tehran, in 1977. 

The rest is history.

Mehrban on mute points

Its like saying the british public was banned from the wedding celebration at the church for the recent royal wedding of their future king because they didn't have an invitation.  Being Unreasonable people is the point being made Mehrban, with Iranians back in the 1970's being unreasonable. 

Mehrban, considering security, the cost of getting people to a location over 1000 miles away in persepolis from most Iranians homes and the guests in attendance, these factors meant that the Unreasonable criticisms that were made back in the 1970's, by anti-monarchists, would one day "today" stand before history for Iranians of future generations, as an example, to ponder how stupid this one generation really was. 

With views rooted in Jealousy instead of legitimacy.  As you know There were celebrations open to the public at other locations. Comparable to the 4th of July and the annual national cultural celebration of Americans for their Independence from the UK. 

Where you aware that, shock/horror, "the American Public are Banned banned from celebrations of supposedly their culture on the 4th of July at the white house?"  Mehrban because so many people naturally don't wish to appear foolish in the west, so you just don't hear this type of unreasonable village gossip. Thanks for reminding us of our national flaws resulting from the backwardness and ignorance that the late shahs team were putting all of Irans energies towards overcoming via education and development.  Mehrban and Zendanzadeh, you are entitled to keep your own views as are others and you are also entitled to challenge others views as are others.  We are allowed to protest when they feel misrepresented.  

monarchists hate Iranian people, Iranian people also have the

Exact same feelings about monarchists, in return.

Furthermore monrachists used to be, currently are, and in the future will be nothing but a bunch of blood thirsty, thieving, fascists.

Their daily conduct on this site is the best evidence of their true (blood thirsty, fascistic) nature.

Iranian public was banned from the celebrations of supposedly

their culture, if I may remind you MRX.   

The only event

As far as I can recall, it was the only event in 1400 years if not more that actualy celeberated and honored Iran's past.However we have to acknouledge now that with the extend of deep rooted  backwardness that Iranian society suffers from this event was way too much for them to cope with!

Post IRI Iran will look like Belgium or Berlusconi's Italy ...

Funny World of Politics

"Under a democratical government the citizens exercise the powers of sovereignty; and those powers will be first abused, and afterwards lost, if they are committed to an unwieldy multitude."- Chapter 2 of Edward Gibbons "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" 

Related Blog:

MONARCHY MATTERS: Khosro Fravahar say’s Iranian Jomhurykahs live in denial 

"A Country that Loses it's Poetic Vision is a Country that faces death"-Saul Bellow. 

irani ha

majority( 80%+) of iranians are nothing but a whole bunch of barberic people living in middle ages. They are nothing but a bunch of wild , backward animals that deserve nothing better than Khamenei . Matter of fact khamenei is even too good for them , they need a Taliban style goverment. Majority of Iranians are like a heard of sheeps which ever way the wind blows they go that way.Majority of Iranians lack knowledge of how to tell the difference between good and bad.  Who ever says otherwise is at best an optomist. vassalam name tamam!  maybe in 100-200 years things would change, but unfortunately today Iran still has a lot of GHAV O KHAR O KOOSALEH.

lol zedanzadeh

please comment a little more on ic's Prisoner of the day section, considering some of your self-centered views helped give birth to this entire section on ic based on your gloriously planned, well thought out, excellently delivered march away from peace, progress and human rights.

Tis "celebration" was so magical that in 6 short years afterward

The entire violent, corrupt, fascistic monarchy in Iran went to hell.

Good riddance.

Koroush rest in peace, indeed, for Savad Kohis are forever destined to live only in museums, as remnants of theiving clan.

The Magic of The Celebrations are More Evident Today

The Shah-han-Shah as the Leader of Iranians, is more relevant today than at any other time.  Today No Enemy of the Shah-han-shah or anti-Monarchist can deny the sheer Importance of His Majestys Place in the Future of Iran, without revealing their Ignorance.  Since Iranians had one unwise generation it doesn't mean they will have yet another.  This current period of weakness, poverty, corruption and inhumanity didn't happen just because people lied about the late shah-han-shahs iran, but because many willingly allowed those lies in and were victims of Official Deceits, from ABC/BBC/CNN to TIME as well as anti monarchists in Iran like these mullahs.

As Iranians keep rediscovering who loves the mullahs, who brought them to power and keeps them in power, all the propaganda in the world won't work and the repeated brain washing of unsuspecting people who look to the news and politicians for the truth, will realize the depths of the crimes perpetrated against them by power for no good reason, but personal greed.

For the Young Iranians of Today who are only able to dream for a better future and have seen the real face of what politics and anti monarchists have done to Iran, be inspired by real hope for Irans future by studying and understanding the masterpieces of Ferdowsi, Nezami, Molavi, Saadi, Hafez, Khayyam and over 1000 poets, philosophers, scientists, scholars and teachers who like them established our Iranian National Culture.  And be wise enough to pursue real hope based on the culture they established and not cruel hope which your parents unwise generation followed.